Movement for Russian Kin’s Settlement Support 22.03.2010

Press-conference devoted to the development of Russian Kin’s Settlement movement has taken place in ITAR TASS. The problems facing the Kin’s Settlement Support Movement include effective use of lands, settlement of painful social questions, and traditional arrangement of domestic life and education of children. Vladimir Borev, Editor-in-Chief of analytical and information edition «Councilor of the President», Vladimir Megre, the writer, and Maya Ladilova, the Executive Director of Anastasia Foundation for Culture and Creative Support of the City of Vladimir, have taken part in the press-conference.

BOREV: Today it’s getting hard to live in huge metropolises; people lose their time in traffic-jams more and more lately. This fact confirms the relevance of the topic of migration to the vast expanses of our Motherland, the topic of metropolises resettlement, acquisition of native land instead of asphalted spaces in the city which belong to nobody and become hostile to a man.

Recently I have seen a diary in France with a map of the world. Many contours familiar to us have been changed on it. In particular, the territory of Russia occupied only the space up to the Urals, and the rest territory of the Russian Federation bore the inscription of «Siberia». Such a map is widespread in Europe today and many students learn Geography using it.

Siberia, in the consideration of non-Russians, is not a geopolitical name, but only a geographic name for the space open for development, as, in the consideration of many theorists, the space up to the Urals is enough for habitation of contemporary population of Russia, while the rest of territory of RU is the space which for some reason unfairly belongs today to a small number of Russians, approximately 19-20 million of people.

An interesting paradox arises. Our country is rich in oil, gas, timber, minerals etc., but the main wealth of Russia is land. Although we have such great quantity of land that no other country in the world has, people who want to get land to cultivate it, have a hard time and can’t settle their land-related problems for years.

Under conditions of demographic crisis, baby bust, low life expectancy we are actually becoming a small people. And not only Russian people but also other peoples of RU are concerned.

The vast territories of Russia are still inaccessible for us. And even boundless space after the Urals all the houses and buildings stand densely, they really crowd together, while the nearest settlement can be one day travel away from them.

It seems to me that Social Movement of Kin Estates which arose in our country a few years ago is a very interesting innovation technique. Today when officials scarcely know how to carry out a President’s mandate of president for modernization, a movement of new settlers or new settlement or finding one’s roots movement has arisen in the depths of the country in the national conscience — it can be called in different ways— when people try to establish themselves on some native space, installing garden, vegetable garden, etc. there. Thus they become violently rich.

This land management, to my way of thinking, is that kind of innovation or even national idea that our officials are searching for in vain so long.

MEGRE: In my opinion, Russia will find motherland in Kin Estates at last.

What is a Kin Estate? It is to a certain degree the development of virgin land, revival of village and peasant household. However, in general it is considerably greater than revival of the old society but it is the beginnings of a new, more harmonious society.

Today there are over 250 settlements consisting of Kin Estates inhabited by more than 7500 families in Russia.

It all started ten years ago, but for some reason it was done in deepest secrecy in terms of mass media coverage and attitude of the authorities, facing total misunderstanding and even negative rejection.

«Councilor of the President» edition was one of the first to run a blockade. Other attempts were also made, but publications of this edition were more courageous and precise. Certainly there was some sort of officials support; the Supreme Mufti of Russia supported the idea of Kin Estates.

So far, gradually increasing support for the movement has resulted in Law on Kin Estates which is to be adopted the other day in Belgorod Region. For the first time this law has introduced the legal conception of «Kin Settlement» and has suggested a state support for such settlements.

Development of Kin Estate Movement will also improve the situation with qualitative food-supply of metropolis people.

Moral support is more important for the participants of the movement than material support; they need understanding and not to be ill spoken.

The essence of idea of Kin Estates is that our handmade things are the best thing that can be, that you create beautiful things when you create them by yourself. The best land plot will be the plot you are creating by yourself to leave it to your children, your kin that is created by you for your country.

Kin Estate Movement may be said to be the performing evolution of lifestyle in Russia. It is not the revolution as Boris Kushner has called the movement. Commoners, intellectuals — which make up 90 percent of the movement structure — and the officials also take part in this lifestyle evolution.

In my books I suggest that 1 hectare of land shall be allocated by the state to any interested family gratuitously with right of succession to the descendants without power of sale.

LADILOVA: I would like to invite all the participants of press-conference as well as their colleagues to the first International Ringing Cedars Festival of Kin Estates that will take place on March 27 from 10:00am to 9pm at CSPA Football Hall. Large amount of information will be presented at the festival to the public, as well as to the mass media; you will have an opportunity to know everything about kin estates from primary sources. The Trade Fair will also take place at the festival.

QUESTION: Could you tell us about Kin Estate Movement in detail? Who was the organizer in the movement? What are the sources of finance?

MEGRE: This movement has no organizers and no sources of finance. People filled with ideas of «Ringing Cedars of Russia» book series have initiated the movement. We don’t know for certain how many people of this kind and what are they, or, to be more precise, we know not all of the movement participants.

QUESTION: Do the Kin Estates relate to eco-villages which are also popular in Russia at present?

MEGRE: No, they don’t. Kin Estates have nothing in common with eco-villages. The ideology is quite different. Kin Estates are also created to improve human environment, however it is not the same movement that arose in the USA in 60-s and was called hippie.

As far as I know, KOVCHEG Eco-Village, located in the Moscow area, is inhabited with the readers of «Ringing Cedars of Russia» book series, but according to their own words, they finally have given way before constant pressure of mass media which identified KOVCHEG as Eco-Village so they also called themselves as Eco-Village.

Information source: ITAR-TASS